Sheriff deputy handcuffs protester during emotional IMPD hearing

Chief Tanya Terry came to the City-County Building Sept. 9 to present her department’s proposed 2027 budget.

But dozens of attendees came to discuss something else: accountability.

Terry presented the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department’s nearly $400 million budget, at times struggling to be heard over the shouts of attendees calling for accountability in the wake of Dalys Jett’s death. IMPD officers shot and killed the 21-year-old college football player in July.

Those who spoke at the hearing reflected a distrust of the agency that receives more than 20% of the city’s annual budget. Tensions reached a boiling point when Marion County sheriff’s deputies pinned a protester to the ground and handcuffed him after a councilor ordered him out of the room.

IMPD previously announced that Jett had shot two IMPD officers in July, but later said Jett shot one officer and the other was struck by friendly fire.

Jett’s death is one of many recent incidents to draw scrutiny about IMPD officers’ judgment since Terry became chief in February. An officer was placed under investigation earlier this year after threatening to kill a teenager leaving an anti-ICE protest at Warren Central High School. In May, felony charges against a teenager were dropped after body-camera footage contradicted the officer’s claims that he had pointed a gun at the officer. Then in August, an IMPD officer was recommended for termination after officials learned he misused the agency’s Flock camera system. 

At the IMPD budget hearing, the room erupted over Terry’s comments regarding Jett’s death.

“I vow as chief to be open and transparent through good and bad,” Terry said. “It is not appropriate to have this case tried in the court of public opinion.”

She said IMPD offered to show unedited body-camera footage, but the family declined. Ballistics evidence confirmed that a bullet from Jett’s gun struck an IMPD officer, she said.

In response to the shouting, City-County Councilor Leroy Robinson, chair of the Public Safety and Criminal Justice Committee, paused proceedings and instructed sheriff’s deputies to escort people out.

Later in the hearing, after a few more shouts and jeers, an attendee laughed at part of the back-and-forth. Robinson ordered deputies to eject him. The exchange turned physical: the man, Jamaal Shabazz, shouted “Don’t f***ing touch me” before being taken to the ground and handcuffed.

Shabazz was escorted away from the meeting room and released.

“They were saying they were going to kick people out when they weren’t being loud; they just made a comment or a noise that you didn’t like,” Shabazz told Mirror Indy. “You’re changing the yardstick because you didn’t like what somebody said.”

He said he got upset after deputies started to touch him as he was gathering his things to leave. That’s when he was forced out of the room and pinned to the ground, he said.

Back in the chamber, Councilor Carlos Perkins reflected on the moment. 

“I think tonight is an example for me of a community that’s lived under tension, under pressure, and oftentimes our voice and our frustration is interpreted as violence,” he said.

IMPD and the Marion County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Public ties budget to accountability

Many who spoke during public comment at the hearing directly tied accountability to the budget process.

“You may not control the prosecutor, but you control the purse,” said Davanta Scruggs, spokesperson for Jett’s family. “Do not fund what you refuse to confront. You need to hold IMPD accountable. You need to really ask the real questions of what’s going on, where this money is going?”

Jett’s family continues to advocate for the release of the unedited footage of the shooting and for the termination and prosecution of the officers involved.

“Instead of holding this agency accountable to success metrics like recruitment numbers, decreases in use of force, or solved murder cases, you ask the taxpayers to just keep giving without question,” said Sandra McLean, an organizer with Live Free Indiana, which advocates for the end of mass incarceration and other social justice issues.

For 2027, Terry presented a proposed $400 million budget, which includes funding for 1,743 officers despite chronic understaffing at the department. 

Multiple city-county councilors questioned that staffing level, which was initially established by an agreement between Mayor Joe Hogsett’s administration and the police union. 

“We don’t get to decide on that because this council did not agree and sign off on the MOU between the union and the enterprise,” said Perkins, whose district is on the west side. “That was through the mayor’s office. We did not lock in that 1,743 number, right? That was dictated to us.”

Councilor Jesse Brown, who represents an eastside district, suggested money for those positions could be redirected to other programs, such as the Community Led Clinician Response.

“You cannot do the work of 1,700 officers with 1,300 officers. You just can’t do it,” he said.

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Emily Hopkins is a senior reporter at Mirror Indy. You can reach them by phone or Signal at 317-790-5268 or email at em***********@********dy.org. Follow them on most social media @indyemapolis or on Bluesky @emilyhopkins.bsky.social.

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